ART BUILDING WEST, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

DESCRIPTION +

PROGRAM: Art and art history building, including facilities for sculpture, painting, printmaking, graduate studios, administrative offices, gallery, and library
CLIENT: University of Iowa

SIZE:
70,000 sq ft

STATUS: complete

Art Building West is a hybrid instrument of open edges and open center; instead of an object, the building is a “formless” instrument. Implied rather than actual volumes are outlined in the disposition of spaces. Flat or curved planes are slotted together or assembled with hinged sections. Flexible spaces open out from studios in warm weather. The main horizontal passages are meeting places with interior glass walls that reveal work-in-progress. The interplay of light is controlled through shading created by the overlapping planar exterior. Exposed tension rods of the partial bridge section contribute to the linear and planar architecture. Interior floors are framed in exposed steel and concrete planks, with integrated air and services distribution in the core voids. The resulting architecture is a hybrid vision of the future, combining bridge and loft spaces, theory with practice and human requirements with scientific principles.

AWARDS+

2006 2007 AIA IOWA ARCHITECTURE HONOR AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

2007 AIA INSTITUTE HONOR AWARD

2007 AIA NEW YORK CHAPTER ARCHITECTURE MERIT AWARD

2007 RIBA INTERNATIONAL AWARD

2007 2007 AIA IOWA HONOR AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CRAFT

2008 THE AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE AWARD

2010 SCUP MERIT AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ARCHITECTURE FOR A NEW BUILDING